Sheikh Muhammad

Sheikh Muhammad (1560–1650), also known as Shekh Mahammad (Mohammad), Sayyad Shaikh Mahammad Qadiri, Shaikh Muhammad Shrigondekar (lit. Sheikh Muhammad of Shrigonde), and Sheikh (Shekh) Mahammad-baba, was a Muslim saint-poet who is also venerated in the Hindu Varkari tradition. He is the most well-known Marathi Muslim poet. He is the author of the Yoga-samgrama (Yoga-sangrama).

Background Sheikh Muhammad was born and lived his life in Shrigonda (Shrigonde), Maharashtra, India. He was the son of Raje Muhammad, a Qadiriyya (Kadri, Qadiri) Sufi. His guru was the Hindu Vaishnava (sect worshipping the Hindu god Vishnu) saint Changa Bodhale, who was also the guru of Janardan Swami, the guru of the saint-poet Eknath (1533–1599). Changa Bodhale, known as Said Changasaheb Kadri in Sufi traditions, is considered an avatar of the Hindu god Dattatreya and was a disciple of Sheikh Muhammad's father. His writings show the influence of both Hindu bhakti and Muslim Sufi traditions, and he was a follower of the Advaita Vedanta school of Hindu philosophy.

Even though Sheikh Muhammad identified himself as Muslim by birth, he had chosen the Hindu god Vithoba, a form of Krishna-Vishnu in Maharashtra, as his patron deity. His "socio-religious awareness" is evident in this poem dedicated to Vithoba as Krishna: Sheikh Muhammad also wrote abhangas in praise of Vithoba.

According to Sontheimer and Kulke, the Yoga-samgrama is an "unusually frank critique" of Hindu Brahmanical ritualism and folk Hinduism. While Sheikh Muhammad accepts classical Hindu deities, he vilifies folk Hindu deities. He mocks the shrines of the Hindu mother goddess placed on roads and in fields: "If the deities were all that powerful, how come the dogs urinate on them?" He also criticizes self-torture rituals like hook-swinging, performed to appease folk deities.

Sheikh Muhammad is considered an avatar of the Muslim saint-poet Kabir (c. 1440 – c. 1518).

The palakhi (palanquin with paduka) of Shiekh Muhammad was included in the annual Pandharpur Wari, a march from Shrigonde to Pandharpur, where Vithoba's main temple stands.